Toronto High School’s Great North Walkers

There are many young people in Lake Macquarie who are doing great things in our community, often unseen and unheralded. The effort of six Year 10 students from Toronto High School who recently completed a 250-kilometre track along the Great North Walk to raise money for the Black Dog Institute deserves to be heralded loudly. Lachlan Maher, Caleb Watts, Coby Howarth, Skye?Ann Anderson, Kayleb Bennett and Toby Adams spent two weeks trekking the 250 kilometres between Circular Quay in Sydney and Queens Wharf in Newcastle. They raised more than $8,000 for the institute, which they said had inspired them to undertake the walk and raise awareness of mental illness in the community. To make their efforts even more extraordinary, on the third-last day of their journey, the students received the tragic news that one of their schoolfriends, Jade Finn, had been killed in a car accident in Port Macquarie while heading off for a family holiday. These students are an inspiration to many and I welcome the opportunity during Mental Health Week to acknowledge and applaud their efforts in the New South Wales Parliament.

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ABOUT GREG

Greg Piper has been an independent voice for the people of Lake Macquarie for more than 20 years, as a Member of Parliament, Mayor and councillor. He was elected to Lake Macquarie council in 1991, served as Mayor from 2004 until 2012 and has been the State MP for Lake Macquarie since 2007.